ICOM International Council of Museums - Museo Estancia Jesuitica ...

Fahmel Beyer: San Dionisio Ocotepec, Oaxaca
Ripoll López, Sergio
1998 “El parque de arte prehistórico de los Pirineos”, en Revista de Arqueología XIX-
210, pp.6-13.
Triedo, Nicolás
2003 “Parque temático La Cumbre Tajín”, en México Desconocido XXVII-313, pp. 46-
52.
Summary
It has been said (José Alán1996:13-15) that museums of the 21st century will have to
give man the tools he recquires to identify his wishes and do his will – "only then will
the new man enjoy his freedom". But how shall this poor lad achieve his goal, if
museums are to be led by experts dedicated to the (¿re?)-construction of messages
which make the world and its cultures meaningful and coherent?
From the perspective of a University scholar who has dedicated his life to the Zapotecs
of central Oaxaca, museums are becoming a priority as a way to educate people and
to protect their cultural heritage from destruction. As a response to this need, the Union
of Communitary Museums has issued a Manual to train future museum committees
and foster the interaction between already established committees. Unfortunately many
questions remain open when it comes to the organization and planning of exhibits, and
the registration and restoration of objects by employees of official Institutions: Where
are the limits between the local and the national domain, and who is to say what a
community wishes to display? Things become even more complicated when
archaeological and historical sites are to be managed in association with a local
museum, as “the ruins” are normally run – and interpreted - by the State.
Recent work in the San Dionisio Ocotepec county has brought to light an enormous
archaological area of interest to those who study the interaction of Highland Mexico
with the Isthmus Lowlands – a strategic point which was occupied during four thousand
years and was in control of most of Mesoamerica’s long distance trade. The urban area
of this extraordinary city – about 10 km2 in extent - however, was never abandoned,
and activities carried out during the Colonial and Modern periods continue within a
forested setting which in part defines and secludes different occupational areas. In
order to evaluate how this situation is to be handled, diverse approaches are briefly
discussed presenting the San Dionisio archaeological area as an archaeological zone,
an archaeological park, an ethnographic park, a theme park, an ecological park and an
open air museum. In each case the community museum plays a different role,
depending on how close its aims are related to the discourse of the main ruins. Among
all these possibilities it is the cultural landscape which offers the best opportunities to
save the old city and protect its surroundings. By declaring the whole county as an
open air museum, and adopting a plural approach that would integrate all of its
inhabitants with their histories and opinions, tourists should be able to contrast oral
traditions and academic interpretations with the natural and cultural setting as they
themselves perceive and experience it.
Most important, however, is that by declaring San Dionisio Ocotepec a World Heritage
Site in the Evolutionary Landscape category, a partial solution is given to the lack of
projects concerning the salvage and protection of the Tlacolula valley sites in general.
A county of its size and importance may well handle the situation, invigorate its people
and conduce them to protect their legacy and cultural patrimony for the future.
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